1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to dental equipment. In particular, this invention relates to a dental work station comprised of a dentist dynamic instrument service cabinet with an attached structure and a dentist's dynamic instrument station attached to the end of the overhead structure which is located forward of the patient's chair.
2. Prior Art
For many years efforts have been made to develop a comprehensive dental work station which will provide easy access for the dentist to the dentist's dynamic instruments, provide access for the dentist's assistant to the assistant's instruments, supply adequate lighting to the operating theatre and at the same time be easily convertible for use by a left-handed or a right-handed dentist. Efforts have been made to design dental systems which position the dental assistant's instruments and the dentist's dynamic instruments in a reasonable position in relation to the patient's oral cavity. While many of these dental systems have been partially useful, certain problems remain and new ones have been created because of the automation in the dental practice.
For example, Canadian Patent No. 877,196 discloses a dental operatory wherein both the dentist's and the dental assistant's equipment are housed in a cabinet which is located behind the head of the patient's chair. The operatory is not easily convertible for use by a right-handed and a left-handed dentist since all the dentist's dynamic instruments and equipment are located on one side of the cabinet while the dentist assistant's instruments and equipment are located on the opposite side of the cabinet. Other disadvantages to this dental operatory include a lack of easily adjustable lightening, inconvenient access to the dentist's equipment and many other deficiencies present because the design does not anticipate the modern advances in dental procedure.
British Patent No. 1,138,294 provides a less static work station by placing the dynamic instruments in a moveable dental unit. However, this work station still is not easily adaptable for use by both a right-handed and a left-handed dentist. Further, it fails to provide for the activities of a dental assistant and continues many of the same problems that exist in the '196 patent because it fails to anticipate the modern dental work procedure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,194 discloses a dental operating unit with a reversible dental assistant's unit. This patent provides a dental operating unit associated with a dentist's dynamic instrument service cabinet to allow for reversing of the dental assistant's work station from the left side to the right side of the patient's chair. The dentist's dynamic instruments are maintained in a central location attached to the front of the service cabinet. While this unit provides more flexibility than previously designed dental operating units, it fails to place the dentist's dynamic instruments in the most efficient location for use, that is, in front of the patient. In addition, the design does not provide for other modern non-dental accessories to be utilized in conjunction with the dentist's equipment, such as a computer or visual/aid equipment and, in addition, fails to provide adequate lighting for the dental operating theatre.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,900 discloses a dental console wherein two support arms are rotatably mounted on a common pedestal which is located in front of the patient's chair. Each of these arms is comprised of a group of segments which rotate from the common pedestal to allow for positioning on either the right side or the left side of the patient's chair. While this console does provide a means for access to the dentist's equipment whether the dentist is left-handed or right-handed, it has several significant flaws. The rotatable arms are quite long and require three or four different segments for full extension, thus necessitating heavy, expensive apparatus. In addition, the heavy weight of the equipment at the end of the arms puts great strain on the support portions of the apparatus. Further, by placing the dental console in front of the patient's chair, access to water, air, etc. must be provided in two different locations, one in front of the patient's chair within the dental console and one behind the chair where all of the remaining dentist's equipment, supplies and utensils are stored. This arrangement is inconvenient and may be impossible in some dentist's facilities.
Additional extendable arm patents associated with a dentist's operation include, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,610,630, 4,427,382, 4,126,939, 4,114,274, 3,821,852 and 3,805,388. While each of these patents provides a slightly different method of presenting the instruments to the dentist, each has significant defects. Each arm is connected to or associated with the patient's chair, which creates problems with usage for right-handed or left-handed dentists. By having the arm project on one side of the dentist's chair, it interferes with the operation of either the dentist or the dental assistant. In addition, none of these patents provides the wide range of operation as is present with the current invention.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a dental work station designed to position the dental assistant's instruments and the dentist's dynamic instruments in the most convenient location in relation to the patient's mouth.
It is another object of this invention to provide a dental work station wherein the connections for power, water, vacuum and other dental utilities are conveniently positioned to reduce the external umbilicals which are normally associated with the dental operatory.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a dental work station with an overhead structure to position the dental equipment in the best possible position for the dentist, that is raised up above the floor and directly in front of the patient's chair.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a dental work station where the patient's chair will not interfere with the operation of the dental work station.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a dental work station with well situated lighting both in the overhead structure and in the astral lamp.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a shelf unit which is associated with an overhead structure which can support a television and video cassette recorder for optimum use by the dentist and/or patient during the dental procedure.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the following detailed description, drawings and claims. The description along with'the accompanying drawings provides a selected example of the construction of the device to illustrate the invention.